Spike TV’s two-fight preliminary card broadcast of this past weekend’s
WEC 48 event drew an average audience of 1 million
viewers, according to Spike TV officials.

The broadcast was the debut of the WEC on Spike TV, though the fight
promotion’s brand was completely removed for the event. “Aldo vs. Faber
Prelims” served as a
teaser for the evening’s pay-per-view broadcast.

The one-hour broadcast featured a highly entertaining matchup between
featherweights Leonard Garcia and Chan Sung Jung, as well as a
lightweight contest between Anthony Pettis and Alex Karalexis.

“WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber” took place April 24 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif..

According to Spike TV officials, the event earned an overall household rating of 0.8. Additionally, the “Aldo vs. Faber Prelims” broadcast earned a 0.91 in the key demographic of males aged 18-34, as well as a 0.92 with males 18-49.

While Zuffa, LLC, parent-company of the WEC, is not likely to release the pay-per-view sales figures for the evening’s event, the Spike TV ratings are undoubtedly an encouraging indicator. Prior to WEC 48, the company’s most recent full-event broadcast, “WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz,” drew just 373,000 viewers to the Versus airing.

The “Aldo vs. Faber” numbers also hold up well against similar broadcasts of recent UFC events. March’s “UFC Prelims” broadcast of a pair of UFC 111 bouts just edged out the “Aldo vs. Faber Prelims” broadcast with 1.2 million viewers.

WEC officials have yet to commit to or rule out future pay-per-view events, though they have conceded that decision would be based largely on the success of “WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber.”